[Early 2000s] How to process game meat and the meat-eating culture that exists in each region
Around the year 2000, the word "gibie" was not yet common in Japan, and deer and wild boar were only consumed locally as "mountain prey." Hunters would stab and bleed the animals in the mountains, then transport them to the foot of the mountain on a backpack or in a light truck. The animals were often butchered in their own sheds or behind local butcher shops, and hygiene control relied on individual experience and intuition. Cooling equipment consisted of simple coolers or iced water. The current common sense of quickly lowering the internal temperature to 3-7°C had not yet taken root, which was one of the reasons why people complained about the "smelly" smell in the summer.
However, behind this simple processing system lies the unique food culture that has been cultivated in each region.
In Hokkaido , Ezo deer are called "Ezo shika" and their front legs are preserved in miso so that they won't freeze in winter. In the izakayas of the hunter's towns, it was considered stylish to pair it with hot shochu.
Tohoku is the center of Matagi culture. Bear fat is melted in a pot and stewed with root vegetables and wild plants to make "bear soup," a winter delicacy. The custom of drying gallbladders to stop bleeding and using them as medicine remains.
In Shinshu , there is a tradition of "deer meal" that has continued since the Edo period, where hunters boil deer bones in a miso-based pot in their mountain huts. In the butchering huts of Toyamago, the custom of eating deer back loin sashimi with wasabi soy sauce continued.
The Chugoku to Shikoku regions are a treasure trove of wild boar culture. In the mountainous areas of Okayama, teppanyaki with miso sauce, "shishinikuyaki," and in the Tsurugi Mountains of Tokushima, "boar tataki," where the surface of the boar is seared over straw, are standard festival dishes. The wisdom of squeezing lemons from the Seto Inland Sea to reduce the boar's odor has been passed down.
In Kyushu , wild boar is more prevalent than deer. In Shiiba, Miyazaki, "botanjiru" (miso soup with fresh yuzu pepper) is used, and in Kagoshima, it is stewed in brown sugar shochu and served with tea.
Although hunting is not as prevalent in Okinawa as it is on the mainland, the custom of boiling Ryukyu wild boars (kamai) in salt as an offering in rituals remains. They coexisted with the pig culture and were revered as "mountain cattle."
This way of eating, rich in local color, was a good match for the "simple processing" of the early 2000s. Immediately after hunting, the meat was cooled in mountain water and then transported to the local area by car for 2-3 hours. While the meat was still fresh, it was seasoned with local seasonings such as miso, citrus fruits, and potato shochu, which turned the slight smell of blood and the toughness of the meat into deliciousness. In other words, this style "makes up for imperfect processing with the wisdom of local cuisine."
Then, in the 2010s, as the number of captured animals began to increase, each prefecture began to develop slaughtering and processing facilities. With the introduction of refrigeration cabinets, HACCP-compliant slaughtering rooms, metal detection and radiation testing, temperature control and hygiene standards were modernized in one fell swoop. While unique local cuisine remains, we are now in an era where safe gibier is available at restaurants in urban areas. The fusion of traditional flavors and the latest technology is supporting the gibier scene in the Reiwa era.